Mark of the Magi
Chapter 6
By
Lily of Trust
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Disclaimers: *flips circling lawyers the bird* Oh, sod off.
"Fish," Touma wrinkled his nose at the plate before him, apparently disgusted. "My last breakfast, and it's fish. Have I mentioned my intense dislike of fish?"
Shin and Shu simultaneously kicked him under the table. The thief bit back a howl and reached below to grab at his kneecaps.
"Are you trying to lame me? Why not leave that up to the Serpent?!" Touma growled at them, digging into the meal anyway.
"Whine whine whine...Don't you ever shut up?" Shu asked, finishing his own portion. The four of them were still ensconced within the hut, their meal having been brought to them. So far, no one had made any attempt to release them.
"If you're quite finished?" Nasuti drawled from the doorway. She stood hip-shot, arms crossed over her chest. A familiar sword belt was looped over her torso, and she held a brace of daggers loosely in one hand. "There is still the matter of arming you."
"With what? Fishing poles? Nets? Barbed hooks?" Touma stabbed almost viciously at his plate.
"Surely you don't intend to face the Serpent empty handed?" The witch slung the sword belt off her shoulder and tossed it to Seiji. The daggers she plunked down onto the table before Touma.
"This is all I need," The blonde said, drawing his sword to inspect it critically. By the time the others looked away from the early sun light glittering off the blade, every single dagger had disappeared somewhere onto Touma's person. The thief himself casually mopped his plate with a scrap of breadcrust, ignoring their scrutiny.
"That leaves just the two of you, then," Nasuti turned back towards the door, gesturing over her shoulder towards Shu and Shin. "Follow me."
The two men looked to each other and shrugged, rising to their feet and heading after the redhead.
She lead them towards a low, shed-like structure consisting of four walls, a roof, and a set of double doors latched shut. Nasuti flipped back the latch and swung the doors open, ducking her head to step inside. Morning sunlight fell in solid block into the room, lighting off several sharp, metallic objects.
"Take your pick," The witch waved about her at the numerous spears lining the walls. Normally used during deep sea fishing, for spearing the larger catches, they would be nonetheless deadly in combat. Fortunately, being a docker meant having some experience with punting poles, so the general idea of wielding a staff-like weapon was not unfamiliar to either man.
Shin reached out and experimentally hefted a simple spear, the cross-tree of which hooked in opposite directions on each end, designed to catch and tear as it was pulled free. Nasty, but efficient. Shu, for his part, shrugged and took hold of a simple punting pole, tipped at both ends with a heavy metal. Perhaps steel, perhaps not, but suitable enough for crushing things open.
"Hmm," Nasuti murmured to herself, mouth quirking into an unreadable little smile. "I only hope you know how to use those."
"What about you?" Shin asked, nodding towards her garb, and her weaponless state.
"My tools are here," She tapped her chest, indicating something inside of her. "And these," She spread her hands wide, flexing her fingers. "I can protect myself."
"If you're certain," Shu seemed unsure, but he knew better than to argue with a witch.
"I am," Nasuti smiled again, and latched the shed shut behind them as they left. "Our provisions are already packed; the grotto is nearly a day's journey away, so we'll need to hurry if we wish to get there before sundown."
~
The bottom rim of the sun had barely lifted clear of the ocean's horizon when the group of five left the village. Quite a crowd had gathered, mostly to see Nasuti off. She had, after all, lived out her entire life in the small town, and had many friends and admirers. A gaggle of younger children clung to her skirts, weeping and wailing and generally making it apparent that most of the villagers didn't expect to see their witch again. She ignored the whispered warnings, busying herself with hugging the children and drying their tears.
"I promise to return within three days," She said, holding up that many fingers for the benefit of those too young to understand. "One way or another." She gave the child in her lap one last cuddle before shooing them all back to their parents. With a final wave and smile to the other well-wishers, the small party headed deeper inland.
"Was it wise to make a promise you cannot be sure of keeping?" Seiji asked her thoughtfully as they walked. Nasuti shrugged and flicked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
"I said 'one way or another'. I believe that even if we fail, my spirit will find its way home. After all, it's not such a very long journey."
The Magi nodded, hesitating for a moment before speaking again. "Not to seem callous...but that does me little good. You are, I'm afraid, my only lead as to the whereabouts of the man I pursue..."
"No offense taken. I knew you were going to say that," The witch smiled.
"Of course you did," Touma said flippantly, "You're psychic, after all."
"You have our permission to turn him into a frog, Lady," Shu muttered, kicking a stone along as they went. Nasuti laughed and shook her head.
"I owe you that much information at least," She said to Seiji, ignoring the continuous banter between the other two. "It isn't much, but I hope you find it helpful.
"Nearly a month ago, two strange men arrived in our village by boat, much as you did. Quite different, they were, in appearance; one as pale as you could imagine, and the other dark in nearly every aspect, even spirit." She paused thoughtfully, pursing her lips, "Personally, I was against boarding them for the night, but they carried hard coin, something we see little of way out here, and the headman accepted them without question. I was only in the same room with them for perhaps an hour, but the pale one kept staring at me in a most discerning manner, so I made a point of avoiding them for the rest of the evening. The following morning, they left, heading East."
"I thought you said you were only chasing after one man?" Shin asked Seiji, "Who's this other person?"
"I'm not certain," The blonde said slowly, eyes narrowing as he wracked his brain. "I have an idea, but I can't know for sure. Lady," He turned back to Nasuti. "I believe one of those men is the one I seek, but I have to ask you a final question to be sure."
"Go on,"
"The pale man you spoke of, he had only one-"
"Eye!" Nasuti nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, he wore a patch." She giggled, eyes sparkling. "One of the children asked if he was a pirate. I used that as my excuse to leave the room and take the girl to bed."
"I doubt he was staring at you for the reason you may think," Seiji chuckled. "He is a very powerful Magi. He probably sensed your talents, and was attempting to assess your level of ability."
"A Magi?!" Nasuti blinked, "But I didn't feel any power from him..."
"He's strong enough to hide the usual signs," Seiji said, once again grim. "Which takes an enormous amount of talent and control."
"If he's so good at this magic crap," Touma piped up "Then what're you going to do when we find the guy?"
"I'm not sure yet."
"Oh that's reassuring," The thief rolled his eyes. "Don't expect me to stick around for the spat."
"You really don't know when to shut up, do you?" Nasuti shot an acerbic look over her shoulder at him, her brows arching. Touma coughed and fell silent. Shu stared at the witch, jaw hanging open.
"Teach me how to do that!" He begged. "It wasn't magic, was it?"
~
The rest of the trek passed pleasantly enough, in relative silence. The scenery of the coast, while rugged, was absolutely breathtaking. Trees too thick for three men to encircle with their arms stretched upwards for what seemed to be miles. Gnarled branches, heavy with drooping screens of almost cloth-like moss, trapped humidity low to the ground. What little sunlight that managed to filter past the boughs above found itself trapped behind the curtains, shining through the opaque greenery to create an emerald ambience. The ground itself had a tendency to fall away into cliffs that reached straight down to the pounding surf below. The path they followed wound around, sometimes through thick stands of forest and brush, and sometimes right up against the edges of those bluffs. Plumes of sea-spray rose meters into the air before sprinkling back down onto the ocean. On occasion, they were forced to use their weapons to cut back the undergrowth, which grew in wild tangles wherever it damn well pleased. Eventually, the path began to take a downward incline, and moved a little further inland away from the cliffs. The sun had reached its apex and sunk down towards the western horizon by that point, though there were perhaps four hours of daylight left.
"We're nearly there," Nasuti said, her voice breaking into the almost religious hush created by the terrain.
"You've been to its lair before?" shin inquired, looking about himself as though he expected the Serpent to lunge out from the creeping brush.
"I'm familiar with the grotto," Nasuti ducked under a low hanging branch, brushing a dangling beard of fern aside with her arm. "I played there as a child, long before the monster made the place its home." And she would say nothing more.
The entangling mossy webs eventually grew so thick Seiji was forced to take point and hack a path through it. The plant life almost seemed to resist his blade, but had no choice other than to give. Suddenly, the last layer fell away, allowing a column of sunlight to stream into their eyes. The members of the party threw their arms up to shield their faces until they adjusted to the sudden bright light.
Touma was the first to lower his arm, his eyes being more used to sudden changes in intensity. He sucked in a sharp breath, and let it out slowly as he turned to survey the new surroundings.
Sometime long ago, one of the forest giants had fallen, taking its neighbor along with it. The two ancient trees lay in the center of the grotto, partially submerged in a pool of water that seemed to well up from some source deep beneath the ground. Directly across from where they stood, a sheer wall of rock reared up, surrounded on all sides by impenetrable thickets of bracken. The green-gold sunlight reflected off the water of the lagoon, casting ever-shifting patterns onto the rock wall. The water drained off in a series of mini-waterfalls, cascading downwards towards the ocean.
"Incredible..." Seiji said softly, looking about himself with undisguised wonder.
"Isn't it?" Something akin to nostalgia inhabited Nasuti's little smile. She shook head sharply, and cleared her throat to gain their attention. "Let's not forget why we're here, however."
"It doesn't look large enough to hold a Sea Serpent," Shu cocked his head to the side, scrutinizing the pool.
"It's deep water," Shin pointed out, dipping his spear to indicate the center of the spring, where the clear turquoise melded into cobalt shadows. "I'd guess the snake's been making its home beneath there."
"A very astute guess," Said a deep voice from behind them, "If one is not versed in the ways of Serpents."
A collective yelp rose from the five of them even as they pivoted to face their follower.
"Who the hell are you?!" Shu demanded, leveling the steel-tipped end of his staff at the strange man. And strange he was; hooded lids drooped over beady black eyes, all of which were thrown into shadow by wild green bangs. There was a strange, almost flat, cast to his face, and the sun seemed to glint off his skin. He leaned casually against a mossy tree trunk, arms crossed loosely over his chest.
"I should be asking you that," He looked them all over, eyes raking them up and down. "Strange, I've never been sent a group offering before. What can that soused excuse for a headman be up to?"
"You! You can't be-" Nasuti took an involuntary step back, raising one hand to her mouth in shock.
"Unless, of course," The man said, circling them as a shark would a school of minnows. "You're not an offering so much as a last ditch attempt for freedom..." If he had eyebrows, which he strangely did not, he might have arched one sardonically.
Touma made a small flicking motion with his wrist, drawing several daggers from somewhere in his clothes and splaying them out between his fingers. "Well, it's more of a forced-volunteer situation, but yeah, you could say that."
"Tch, just the four of you and village witch?" The man who claimed to be a serpent stepped backwards until the spring water lapped at his knees. "Not much of a force, is it?" He bared sharply pointed teeth in a grin that widened...and widened...and widened....
His entire body stretched and shifted, legs twisting together into a single column, clothing disappearing into shimmering scales. Popping sounds filled the air as his spine lengthened considerably, shooting him up to nearly six times the height of a normal man. The bones of his face made audible cracking noises as they suddenly surged outward to form a wedge-shaped head. The cold, reptilian grin revealed dozens of long, needle sharp teeth. An identical head sprouted from either shoulder, joining the first in swaying from side to side. A spiny ridge sprung up along the Serpent's back, and scores of small, oscillating fins lined the monster's sides.
"...That's disgusting!!!" Shu and Touma gagged. Shin stared in a sick kind of fascination, head leaned back to stare up at the towering creature. Nasuti had fallen back, her expression a mixture of fear and distate. Seiji took a moment to assess the others, and gripped the hilt of his sword a little tighter. When they'd agreed to exterminate the Serpent, they'd thought it to be some kind of animal, not a monster with the mind of a human.
All three of the Serpent's heads screamed shrilly and lunged forward, their long, flexible necks allowing them to strike at different targets. The party yelped in surprise, reacting swiftly. The closest head snapped at Shu, needle teeth missing his side by a bare inch as he twisted out of range. The heavy end of his staff cracked across the creature's skull, stunning it long enough for him to hit it again, this time ramming the blunt end into one lidless eye. The orb literally burst under the impact, coating the end of the staff in a noxious slime. Keening in pain, the head whipped away, shaking vigorously to dispel the pain. Its remaining eye narrowed, and it darted forward once more, far too quickly for the large man to avoid.
Sunlight glinted brightly off twin projectiles as two of Touma's daggers flickered end-over-end to lodge below the sightless socket. The thief grinned in triumph and fell back a few steps; he knew better than to engage in close range combat armed only with a few knives. The head swung around crazily, half-maddened by agony.
Seiji dealt with the second snake, bringing his blade up between his face and the striking maw. There came a harsh grating sound as steel scraped across bared fangs, and neither yielded. Refusing to retreat so much as a step, the blonde man pursued the head, slashing at the scaled muzzle before him. Hot red blood flew thick on the air, spattering into Seiji's eyes as the attack hit home. The second head also reeled backwards, blood gushing heavily from its injured nose.
Shin held the last snake at bay, watching it warily as it swayed from side to side. Without warning it whipped forward, ivory teeth crashed together only a foot from his face. The spear he'd been carrying stabbed forward seemingly of its own accord, digging deep into the sinuous neck. Shin tore the weapon viciously to the side, slicing through muscle and sinew as he wrenched it back. Blood gouted from the wound, slicking down the moss beside the pool. The Serpent retreated deeper into the water, seeking to put some distance between itself and its attackers, but the four humans pressed forward, having gained a slight upper hand.
Nasuti hung back on the shore, puzzled and not a little stunned. This was almost easy. Any of the young men from her village could have done what they were doing, yet her visions had been very adamant that only these four would have succeeded. The Serpent hardly seemed to be putting up a fight! So what...?
She gasped as the monster's ploy finally became obvious. It was slowly drawing its adversaries into deeper water, where footing was unsure, and their advantage of mobility would be neutralized.
"Idiots! Get out of the water!!" She screamed, waving her arms frantically. "It's going to-"
The last part of her warning went unheard as the Serpent lifted its tail from the pool and lashed out at the approaching men. Shin and Touma had been slightly ahead of Seiji and Shu, and were caught across the torso by a scaled column of steely muscle. The blow threw them both back against the rock wall, slamming them against the stone and pinning them there with bone-crushing force. Touma hit the rock first, his cry of pain quickly stifled by Shin being hurled against him.
"Any damage you may cause is superficial," the Serpent sneered, surprising the remaining three. "Stupid, puny mortals...don't you get it yet? You never had a chance! From this high up, you're little more than bugs to be squished at my convenience." It pulled its tail back only to slam Shin and Touma against the rock once more. The convulsing created violent waves that nearly knocked Seiji and Shu off their feet, keeping them from even attempting to aid their friends.
"We're...gonna die..." Touma gasped into Shin's ear, the breath forced from his lungs by the squeezing coil. "Never thought....t'd be...like this."
The world was rapidly going red and hazy around the edges as Shin's lungs protested, demanding air, and all he could think was that Touma didn't ever shut up....
The crimson mist vanished, replaced by a blinding white light. Nasuti stepped forward into the battle, blazing from head to toe with mage-energy. Her bare feet touched the water, setting it alight. White flame raced along the surface of the lagoon, twining around the Serpent in shackles of magic. It jerked and twitched spasmodically, fighting against the bonds that held it stationary. No longer was it able to crush its victims, though they were still pinned.
"Hurry!" The witch shouted to the other two. "Binding spells won't last long!"
"What the hell does she expect us to do?!" Shu growled. "We can't get near it with that fire in place!"
"There's no 'we'," Seiji said grimly, reaching out to grab Shu's shoulder, spinning him abruptly around in the water. "Just you." He caught Shu's brow in his free hand, his fingers suddenly sinking through the other man's temples. Shu's mouth fell open in a soundless cry of pain, his entire body convulsing violently. Seiji squeezed his eyes shut, though not before a tear escaped and slid down his cheek. "I'm sorry."
Shu's eyes rolled back in his head, revealing nothing but white. A concussion wave of energy, like the blast of an explosion at ground zero, swept across the grotto. Every stone and boulder within a hundred foot radius suddenly exploded in a shower of rock-dust. The wall of stone Shin and Touma were pinned to was no exception. Cracks snaked along the granite, widening and multiplying until the entire face seemed to be nothing but a spiderweb of crevasses. With a roar of tortured stone, it collapsed inward into a pile of rubble. Sunlight streamed through the newly made gap as Touma stumbled out of the debris and into the water, closely followed by Shin.
"What the hell did you do to him?!" Shin growled as he reached them, knocking Seiji away from Shu. The dark haired man collapsed into the knee-deep water, completely senseless. Shin frantically checked the pulse at his neck, appearing only slightly relieved when he found it.
"I saved him," Seiji said harshly. "And the both of you."
"Saved him?!" Touma stared incredulously at the blonde as he crouched down beside Shin. "Godsdammit man! You stuck your hand through his head!"
"Only because there was no other option," Seiji glanced over his shoulder towards Nasuti, who stood in the shallows, locked in a spell-casting rictus. The blazing white light haloing her body was beginning to flicker and fade. "I swear to you both that I'll explain my actions, but later! There's no time for this now!" He locked eyes with Shin. "Trust me."
Shin stared at him for a long moment, then looked back down at Shu, and finally at Touma, who shook his head.
"I do," He said at last. "But it had better be a DAMN good explanation!"
The water around them suddenly whipped into a froth. The Serpent writhed violently as the last of the binding flames fell away. Nasuti gave a little cry and fell to her knees by the shore, panting at the effort of such heavy spellcasting. The head Shu had blinded earlier lunged towards the fallen witch, jaw hanging open to rend and tear. Touma shouted in warning and drew the last of his daggers from within his shirt, splaying them between his fingers to hurl. He winced in pain as he put all his strength behind the throw, breathing a soft prayer to any handy deity. They thudded home behind the jaw, jerking the snake slightly off course. The fangs that would have taken a large chunk out of Nasuti's side only grazed her shoulder instead. She screamed in fear and pushed away from the monstrous face, blood running down her arm as she staggered to her feet and scrambled away.
The head never even had a chance to give chase; there came a high whistling noise as the blade of Seiji's sword swung downwards at an incredible speed, cleaving right through the bone and muscle. The severed head thunked to the ground, leaving the neck to whip around like an out of control hose. Blood fountained from the severed jugular, raining down upon the grotto. The two remaining heads looked at each other for a moment, blinking in almost comical surprise before resuming their attack, focussing now on Seiji.
"Oh that was brilliant Seiji, piss it off!" Touma growled. He could do nothing more but watch as the swordsman defended himself against the two heads. His weapons were gone, and there was no way he would attack either of those things with his bare hands. The fight was shaping up to be distinctly one-sided. The head the blonde had injured earlier broke through his guard and sank its teeth into his thigh, then jerked backwards, taking a large amount of flesh with it. Seiji screamed and sank down to one knee, clutching futilely at the ragged wound.
"They'll kill him!" Shin cried, lurching to his feet. He had lost his own weapon when he'd been thrown against the rock wall, but unlike Touma, he still had something with which to fight. "Seiji!"
The water in all directions rippled and shimmered as frost pearled the surface. Touma stared down at rapidly forming ice around his legs, and grabbed Shu under the arms to pull him to the bank before they were both trapped. Shin clenched his hands into fists and howled as the power beat loose from his body, crashing waves of ice against the Serpent. The intense cold slowed the monster down, leaving it unable to fight as the ice crept up its body. Seiji levered himself back to his feet, using his sword as a crutch, and held a hand out, palm facing towards the Serpent. Swirling energies of green and gold gathered against his skin, slowly growing brighter and stronger as he concentrated past the pain. The chill in the air faded, leaving the monster frozen within a small hill of ice. Seiji spread his fingers wide and the blast of power left his hand, slamming into the mound and shattering it, and the creature inside into millions of tiny shards.
Silence nearly as deafening as the explosion fell. Seiji collapsed to the ground, gritting his teeth against the pain in his leg. He felt lightheaded and strangely disassociated...he supposed the Serpent had managed to sever the major artery.
A light touch pushed away the blood-soaked edges of his clothing, searching out the seriousness of the wound. Seiji cracked an eye open and stared blearily up at Nasuti, who held her hands above the injury and murmured softly under her breath.
"What...?" He panted out.
"I have a minor healing talent...I can barely stop the bleeding, but it will have to hold until we can get you to real help," She said, the shaky tone of her voice saying louder than words how serious it really was. She tore a strip from the hem of her skirt and deftly bandaged the wound, using nearby clumps of moss and fern as a makeshift poultice to staunch the bleeding.
There came a faint splashing noise off to the right, and Touma and Shin appeared in his line of sight, supporting a still unconscious Shu between them. Both of them were walking awkwardly, suggesting they had bruised several ribs during the skirmish. Shin dropped to his knees beside Nasuti, leaving Touma to settle Shu back against a nearby tree trunk.
"How bad?" He asked quietly.
The witch shook her head and bit her lip. "I don't know...bad....very bad...possibly fatal?"
"Should you be saying that right in front of him?" Touma said wryly, his usual casual tone barely masking the fear in his voice.
"Relax, all of you," Seiji said, dropping a hand down over the bite marks. "Accelerated healing is part of being a Magi. My body will be fine with what the Lady has done."
"Still, you shouldn't be moved until the healing process is complete," Nasuti decided. "The same goes for the rest of you. Stay here, I'll see if I can find where I dropped my pack." She got to her feet and dusted off her skirt, then turned and backtracked the way they'd come. Touma frowned and stood to follow her, thinking that she seemed a little unsteady on her feet.
Shin watched until they were out of sight before reaching over to help Seiji sit up. The blonde man grunted and grabbed hold of the hilt of his sword, which lay nearby. He bent his attention to cleaning the gore and grime off the blade with another handful of the dry moss, keeping his eyes averted from those of his protege.
"Seiji?" Shin sat back on his heels and watched. "What did you do? I need to know."
"I did what I thought to be best," Seiji said slowly. "I'm sorry if I hurt him."
"Now you're avoiding the question," Shin glared at him, a look promising much in the way of torment. "That blast...it didn't come from you, did it? It came from him. I felt it. But Shu's not...." Shin trailed off, frowning in confusion. "Is he?"
Seiji sighed and sheathed his sword, turning to look at the unconscious man. "You were not the only Elemental I sensed when I joined you. You were the only awakened one, yes, but not the sole one. Shu possessed, or, I should say, possesses, an extremely latent Elemental ability. If I had not deliberately jolted it awake, he quite possibly would have gone through life without ever knowing."
"He's an....Elemental...too?" Shin echoed faintly, eyes distant as he stared at his hands in his lap. They suddenly clenched as he raised angry, blazing eyes to Seiji's. "You had no right!"
"I-" The blonde began to say, but was abruptly cut off as Shin's fist slammed into his jaw. His vision rocked and swam before settling back to normal, only to find it filled by a pair of enraged green eyes.
"Do you know what you've done?" Shin growled, tightening one hand in the front of Seiji's shirt and hauling him up. "Do you have any idea what they do to Elementals here?! They drain them of their life force, and feed it into a comatose Royal. I've heard it's a very slow, painful process. If, no, when, we're caught, he won't be let go. Before, at least there was a possibility! You had no right to take away his chance to be normal!"
"Are you angry over his loss, or yours?" Seiji asked coolly, apparently unperturbed by the vehemence in the smaller man's voice. "We don't choose to be what we are Shin, we just live with it as best we can. No one enjoys being different; it means pain and suffering, being pushed away from everyone else. But a normal person can't do the things we can. A normal person wouldn't have survived today. It's thanks to him that you're still around to be irritated with me," He paused to rub briefly at the darkening bruise on his jaw. "Although I could have done without the right hook."
Shin released his grip on Seiji's shirt and sank back, shoulders slumping as the misplaced anger drained out of him. He shook his head and stared listlessly at the ground.
"I...I'm sorry....I just don't know anymore...don't know anything."
A hand settled over his shoulder, squeezing gently. Shin looked up and was surprised to find that Seiji was smiling at him. A small one, yes, but a smile nonetheless.
"Don't try to make sense of it. It's not possible, and you'll give yourself a migraine in the attempt."
The corner of Shin's mouth twitched upwards in a half-hearted smile. "What now?"
"Now? Now we rest, and recover, and possibly keep heading forward." Seiji said, settling himself back against the tree. "I'd like to follow this lead, and see where it takes me, if that's alright with the rest of you."
"We haven't got anywhere else to be," Shin shrugged. "Anything that takes us further away from Kichis is a good plan. Hells, maybe it'll even get us out of Taidem."
"Incoming all! We found the packs!" Touma called out, rounding the bend and waving one knapsack aloft. He took in the scene with a blink, and quirked an eyebrow. "What did I miss?"
"Mm, nothing," Seiji dismissed him with a wave of his hand, allowing his eyes to fall shut as he leaned back against the tree.
"Sure. Then I'm going to guess you got clipped by a ricocheting ice fragment or something, since you didn't have that bruise when we left." The thief snorted as he dumped the pack down beside them. Nasuti appeared then, cutting off the conversation. She rummaged through the sack she carried, beaming in triumph as she came up with a few packets of rations.
"Somebody get a fire started, and I'll see about dinner. Maybe that'll bring your friend back." She nodded towards Shu and pulled out an aide-kit for a cleaner bandage for Seiji's leg. Touma shrugged and moved off to find something to use for firewood that hadn't been soaked during the clash.
"By the way...." Nasuti said, just before he left. She looked up at them through the fringe of her bangs, seeming very shy. "I can't thank you enough for what you've done...."
"We'd be Serpent-supper if it hadn't been for you, Lady," Touma shrugged.
"...I wouldn't have put it quite in those words, but he is right," Seiji agreed.
"Thank us with supper," Shin suggested, smiling at her "I don't think any of us could make that trail stuff edible."
Nasuti laughed and nodded. Within short order they had put dinner together, and were arguing over how soon they would be able to move the wounded. With any luck, the travelers would be on their way again before the week was out, following nothing but a faint, rapidly cooling trail.
(AN: Aaand so concludes the fight scene ^-^ I'll just be leaving before someone decides to take me to task for delaying chapters...*attempts to flee and is hit upside the head by Risa's thesaurus* @.@ Okay...I'm sorry about the deception. I hope this sort of makes up for it.
I really, really appreciate all the reviews I got this time around!! *is dancing* The cast members are all in traction, or they'd be up here with me, doing a little jig at the attention. Well...maybe I could talk Shu into it, but I think the others would tell me to take the idea and shove it somewhere anatomically impossible.
Tala, thank you for being polite about you point of view, and for the positive part of it. So many people go "OMG! U MADE THEM KISS!! THATS SIC! WHATS WRONG W/U?!" (Note that it's not the yelling that bothers me so much as the horrible grammar and abbreviations -.-) To anyone else out there bothered by the upcoming shounen-ai content, leave now. This was most likely the last, I repeat, LAST chapter with normal contact.
Gotta run now! I promised my friend I'd work on one of my other stories *waves* The next chapter will be up as soon as I can handle it)